Poor have fundamental right to lead dignified life:Shekhawat

Patna, Apr 21 (UNI) Suggesting several measures for overall development of Bihar by utilising the natural resources and the manpower, Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat today asked the state government to prepare pro-poor schemes for sustainable development and provide the poor a dignified and honourable life which was their fundamental right.

Delivering Thakur Prasad memorial lecture here on development, progress and poverty alleviation, Mr Shekhawat advocated for rational and meaningful development of Bihar saying the nation could develop if the people living at the last leg of the society were brought into the mainstream. He said, 26 crore population living Below Poverty Line (BPL) in the country too had the fundamental right to lead a dignified and honourable life. They were deprived of their fundamental right in the society and instead of approaching any court, they accepted their poverty as their ''fate and destiny'' decided by God, he said.

Mr Shekhawat referred to the commendable achievements of Antyodaya scheme introduced by him in Rajasthan during his regime in 1977 and suggested the Bihar government to prepare developmental programmes according to the needs suitable to the conditions of the poor and those living in the remote areas by involving the panchayats.

He said Bihar could overcome the challenges of the afflicted problems by properly exploiting the available natural resources and manpower to pave the way for development. He said the situation could be reversed by eradicating poverty, providing better facilities for agriculture, promoting cooperative farming and by creating market for the agrarian produce and products manufactured in the cottage industries at local level.

He lauded the efforts of the state government in health sector and said the state government should make arrangements for providing livelihood and job opportunities to the poor in the society.

Mr Shekhawat referred to the abundant water resources available in Bihar and suggesed the government to exploit it for power generation.Water resources should be distributed among the states as per their requirements to achieve this goal, he advised.

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